Mike retired from the Armys Tier 1 assault force (1st SFOD-Delta) after an explosive breaching injury. A year after his retirement America was attacked on 9/11 and he returned to help serve his country as the head marksmanship instructor at the Federal Air Marshals training course and then moved to help stand up the FAMS Seattle field office. In 2003 he left the FAMS to serve as a PSD detail member and then a detail leader for the State Department during 2003 and 2004 in Baghdad and Tikrit.
In 2005 he served as a ground combat advisor of the Joint Counter IED Task Force and participated on combat operations with various units in Al Anbar province. Upon returning he gave IED awareness briefings to departing units and helped stand up a pre Iraq surge rifle course with the Asymmetric Warfare Group as a lead instructor. With that experience as well as a career of special operations service in Marine Reconnaissance, Army Special Forces and JSOC to draw from he moved to the private sector teaching planning, leadership, marksmanship and tactics as well as authoring and co-authoring several books such as The M4 Handbook, AK Handbook and Tactical Pistol shooting. Mike also consults for several major rifle and accessory manufacturers to help them field the best possible equipment to the warfighter, law enforcement officer and upstanding civilian end user. He is considered a subject matter expert on the AR based Stoner platform in all its derivatives.

Mike Pannone 2-Day Advanced Carbine Class  Nov 10-11, 2012 - Myakka City, FL
‏Course Description: 2-day Carbine is a fast paced course designed to give students not only the technical but the practical understanding of the effective employment of their carbine or rifle in an extremely short period of time.Narrative: The CTT-Solutions rifle program of instruction is designed to give shooter specific answers based on operational experience of multiple vetted military/ LE sources, testing and historical data. All techniques taught are highly efficient and effective in the use of a rifle for combative engagements as opposed to sport shooting. The course requires the extensive use of steel targets to accomplish rapid gains in skills with instant feedback as well as approximately 1000 rounds of rifle ammunition per shooter. The high round count and the use of steel give the shooter time and apparatus to refine his/her shooting technique based on the principles taught.